Avid Cyclone grid fan joins the crowd in Ames

     

Steve and I, at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

    It was October, 1989, when husband Steve, my father, Emery Cox and I left an Iowa State Cyclones football game in Ames. The Cyclones had lost, 52-17, to Colorado. We walked back to our car, parked at the Iowa State University Veterinary school, and then drove back to Dad's home in Tipton, Iowa.

    That was the last time I saw my father alive. He died of a sudden heart attack a few days later, three months before daughter, Kirstin, was born.

    That 6-5, 1989 season was also the last time we had Iowa State football season tickets. 

    Until 2021.

    This year is special. While Steve and I have been to games in Ames several times in the intervening 32 years, we actually had season tickets for 25 years to the University of Iowa games in Iowa City. Virtually all my friends are Hawk fans, as is my husband. I root for the Cyclones but it is admittedly hard to be a Cyclone fan deep in Hawkeye Country.

    Times change: Daughter Kirstin is now married with a family and lives in Ankeny, not far from Ames. That means we have a reliable place to stay in central Iowa and as a bonus, we can see and play with our grand-daughter, Myla.

    The Iowa State season begins Saturday, against Northern Iowa. Hailey Hansen, the other granddaughter in the extended family, is a dancer at UNI. Seeing this game is one of the many reasons the 2021 season tickets were purchased.

    But this Cyclone team is special. I'm among the thousands of ISU fans just tickled with the 2020 season https://bakersheartbeat.blogspot.com/2021/02/covid-19-journey-chapter-10-we-survive.html and delighted that most of the players have returned this year. We have experienced players, a terrific head coach in Matt Campbell, and a heady place as being rated seventh (in the preseason Top 10!) among football teams in the United States.

    My Dad would be so proud.

    Some Iowa State players are also from this end of Iowa: Zach and Joey Petersen are from nearby Long Grove, Iowa, and Jared Rus is our neighbor's son.

    Back in the 1960s, my parents had season tickets to the Minnesota Gophers games, and there was a big rivalry with Iowa. Coincidentally, Dad, and then me, ultimately moved to Iowa, where I remain.

    I went to football games when I attended Iowa State, 1976-80, and when I lived in Ames, to 1982. Dad bought season tickets from 1981-89. Those were the years with the following coaches and a middle-of-the-road program: Donnie Duncan, Jim Criner and Jim Walden.

    Matt Campbell has been the best coach in school history, and the 2020 did have the best year in ISU history. How to top that?

    We shall see, starting Sept. 4, versus Northern Iowa. 

    

    

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